Torchy Blane and Steve McBride try to nab a gangster by tracking his moll.Torchy Blane and Steve McBride try to nab a gangster by tracking his moll.Torchy Blane and Steve McBride try to nab a gangster by tracking his moll.
Edgar Dearing
- Jim Simmons
- (as Edgar Deering)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaJane Wyman, who plays Torchy in this film, appeared as the hat check girl in the first Torchy Blane feature.
- GoofsJust after McBride and Gahagan get in to a cab outside the bookstore, there is a close up shot of the license plate which reads "X3075". In the next shot, as the cab pulls up outside a building, the license plate reads "Z8546".
- ConnectionsFeatured in Inside the Dream Factory (1995)
Featured review
A time passer and a weak final installment.
"Torchy Blane...Playing with Dynamite" is the final Torchy Blane film by Warner Brothers. While the earlier films were very good for B-movies, the studio monkeyed around with the cast--and the original star and co-star (Glenda Farrell and Barton MacLane) were replaced twice in the series. This really made little sense, as Farrell and MacLane were both excellent....but the studio thought that the series might do better with Lola Lane and Paul Kelly in the leads. Well, the studio was wrong and they brought back the original cast. But after a couple more films, Farrell changed studios and instead of retiring the series, they tried it one final time with Jane Wyman and Allen Jenkins. And, since they only made one film with Wyman and Jenkins, the change obviously didn't sit well with audiences.
The plot to this one is very familiar as well as totally stupid. While in court, Torchy notices Jackie Maguire is there....and she's the girlfriend of a notorious gangster. So, she comes up with an insane idea....to get thrown into jail so she can pal up to Jackie and learn where her wanted boyfriend is hiding. However, her plan to get arrested goes too well and she's sentenced to 11 months in jail....not a few weeks like she assumed. But her insane plan gets even dumber when she plans on escaping with Jackie in order to find Denver Eddie! Can this convoluted plan possibly work? Well, in real life, no....but in an old B-movie....most likely.
Overall, this is only an okay B-movie that could have been better. It's not just the cast that's the problem, but the plot is too familiar and silly to be taken very seriously. A time-passer and not much more.
The plot to this one is very familiar as well as totally stupid. While in court, Torchy notices Jackie Maguire is there....and she's the girlfriend of a notorious gangster. So, she comes up with an insane idea....to get thrown into jail so she can pal up to Jackie and learn where her wanted boyfriend is hiding. However, her plan to get arrested goes too well and she's sentenced to 11 months in jail....not a few weeks like she assumed. But her insane plan gets even dumber when she plans on escaping with Jackie in order to find Denver Eddie! Can this convoluted plan possibly work? Well, in real life, no....but in an old B-movie....most likely.
Overall, this is only an okay B-movie that could have been better. It's not just the cast that's the problem, but the plot is too familiar and silly to be taken very seriously. A time-passer and not much more.
helpful•01
- planktonrules
- Jun 28, 2021
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Dead or Alive
- Filming locations
- 1355 North Cahuenga Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, USA(old fire station No. 27, now LAFD Museum and Memorial - archive footage of fire trucks leaving a fire station)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime59 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
Top Gap
By what name was Torchy Blane.. Playing with Dynamite (1939) officially released in Canada in English?
Answer